Since the 2010 election, thirty-four states have introduced and twelve have passed legislation that sets out to impede voters’ rights at nearly every step of the electoral process. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, an independent public policy research center, the legislation in these different states could affect the voting rights of more than 5 million people. That number is higher than the margin of victory in two of the past three presidential elections. The restrictions in the legislation—requirement for proof of citizenship and government-issued photo ID, repealing election day registration, suspension of voter registration drives, shrinkage of early voting period, disfranchising former convicts who have served their time—will have an impact “most heavily on young, minority and low-income voters, as well as on voters with disabilities,” according to the Brennan Center for Justice. 

The Nation’s Ari Berman sat down with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! today to explain the steps and consequences of these moves and the GOP’s systemic disfranchising effort to prevent voters from voting across the country. Berman points out that Republican officials and the pro-corporation conservative organization ALEC are behind these voter-repression drives.

 —Jin Zhao